With news of record corporate profits and increased bonuses for those at the top of the financial heap — and on-going income stagnation, job loss, and rising poverty for those in the middle and bottom of the ladder—it’s maddening for progressives to hear our political elites continuing to promote austerity as a means for growth.
Just a year and half ago, Occupy Wall Street was all anyone could talk about. President Obama won a historic second term running on these themes and announced a new era of liberal governance in his recent Inaugural address. Yet, even with strong evidence out of Europe that austerity is failing, and public opinion polls in the U.S. showing clear opposition to rising inequality, the political class in Washington is collectively trying to convince itself that America can cut its way to prosperity and economic opportunity for the middle class.
Why Aren’t More Americans Fired Up About Inequality?
5 U.S. troops die in helicopter crash in Afghanistan
A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan has killed five American service members, officials said Tuesday.
Monday night's crash brought the total number of U.S. troops killed that day to seven, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces so far this year. Two U.S. special operations forces were gunned down hours earlier in an insider attack by an Afghan policeman in eastern Afghanistan.
Palms, Matzah, Our Planet, and the White House: A Religious Call to Civil Disobedience
At noon on March 21, religiously and spiritually rooted Americans of all traditions will gather at the White House for a moral act of loving nonviolent civil disobedience.
This action, organized by the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate (IMAC) and strongly supported by The Shalom Center, will make clear to President Obama that his inspired pledge to halt the destruction of the Earth from climate change requires that he take bold and courageous actions, including rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Most Idaho dairy workers are not here legally
U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador said recently that 90 percent of the approximately 8,300 people on these farms' payrolls are illegal immigrants. "There is no visa for them to be able to work here and nobody else will do those jobs," he told the Bonner County Daily Bee.
Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, said he uses a slightly lower figure, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates and Idaho's experience with audits by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bee Venom Destroys HIV And Spares Surrounding Cells
Nanoparticles containing bee venom toxin melittin can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while at the same time leaving surrounding cells unharmed, scientists from Washington University School of Medicine reported in the March 2013 issue of Antiviral Therapy.
The researchers said that their finding is a major step toward creating a vaginal gel that can prevent HIV spread. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD, a research instructor in medicine, said: "Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial infection."
After Watering Down Financial Reform, Ex-Senator Scott Brown Joins Goldman Sachs’ Lobbying Firm
During his nearly three years in the U.S. Senate, Scott Brown (R-MA) frequently came to the aid of the financial sector — watering down the Dodd-Frank bill and working to weaken it after its passage — and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from the industry.
Now, the man Forbes Magazine called one of “Wall Street’s Favorite Congressmen” will use those connections as counsel for Nixon Peabody, an international law and lobbying firm.
EU bans sale of all animal-tested cosmetics
A complete ban on the sale of cosmetics developed through animal testing has taken effect in the EU.
The ban applies to all new cosmetics and their ingredients sold in the EU, regardless of where in the world testing on animals was carried out. The 27 EU countries have had a ban on such tests in place since 2009. But the EU Commission is now asking the EU's trading partners to do the same.
Combat stress felt far from front lines
The gritty combat in Afghanistan is thousands of miles away. But the analysts in the cavernous room at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia relive the explosions, the carnage and the vivid after-battle assessments of the bombings over and over again. The repeated exposure to death and destruction rolling across their computer screens is taking its own special toll on their lives.
The military has begun to grapple with the mental and emotional strains endured by personnel who may never come face to face with a Taliban insurgent, never dodge a roadside bomb or take fire, but who nevertheless may be responsible for taking human lives or putting their colleagues in mortal danger.
Queen Elizabeth II to sign new charter backing gay rights
The Queen will sign a new Commonwealth charter opposing discrimination suffered by women, gay people and ethnic minorities.
In a special ceremony to mark Commonwealth Day on Monday, she will also give a speech endorsing the new agreement which states signatories oppose “all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds”.
The words “other grounds” are said to refer to sexuality however any specific references to gay people are not included to avoid antagonising Commonwealth countries that retain laws against homosexuals, according to the Mail on Sunday.
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